Secretary Of Defense Chuck Hagel Called Out China Over Internet Thievery

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was the latest U.S. leader to name
China as one of the leading threats to U.S. cyber security when
he made a speech on his trip to Singapore over the weekend.

“The United States has expressed our concerns about the growing
threat of cyber intrusions, some of which appear to be tied to
the Chinese government and military,” Hagel said at a defense
conference on June 1.

Hagel offered some comments even before he arrived to Singapore
to reporters flying with him on his plane. As the issue of cyber
security grows and more leaders highlight the threat to national
security, more questions have arisen within the question and
answer sessions leaders hold with the media.

Hagel made his comments in Singapore after the Washington Post
reported that a Defense Science Board had found that China had
hacked into the designs of dozens of the U.S. military’s top
weapons programs. Using that report as a news peg, Hagel was
asked if he thought “the strategy of calling out China publicly
has borne fruit?’

The defense secretary back pedaled a bit saying it’s difficult to
prove who conducts a cyber attack but he said the Pentagon could
tell where the attacks start.

“It’s pretty hard to prove that they are directed by any specific
entity. But we can tell where they come from. And I
think we’ve got to be honest with that — about that. I
think we’ve got to let people know that,” Hagel said on May 31.

He said the U.S. would prefer to keep these concerns private, but
the threat has forced leadership to shine a public light on it.

“You solve these problems and you get to an understanding by
using the other range of your — of your capacities and that’s
more private,” Hagel said on May 31. “But it has to be public as
well. And we’ll deal with this. We must deal with
this. This is a very dangerous threat to all of us.”

He further defined his concern with the growing threat of cyber
attacks and the level of worry the Pentagon has about them.

“Cyber threats are real. They’re terribly dangerous.
They’re probably as insidious and real a threat to the United
States — as well as China, by the way — and every nation.
This is not a threat just unique to America. It’s unique to
no one. It crosses all borders,” Hagel said.